Leave it to the Dutch: How to save on your Azure bill!

What if upgrading your Azure VMs could cut your bill by more than half? Discover the counter-intuitive strategies that will save you a fortune.

#1about 1 minute

Delete unused resources to immediately cut costs

The most effective way to save money in Azure is to regularly find and remove experimental or forgotten resources that are no longer in use.

#2about 4 minutes

Monitor your spending with Azure cost analysis tools

Use the cost analysis page in the Azure portal to drill down into your subscription and identify the largest categories of spending for optimization opportunities.

#3about 2 minutes

Set up budget alerts to prevent surprise charges

Configure cost alerts in your Azure subscription to be notified when spending exceeds a predefined threshold, preventing unexpected high bills from bugs or configuration errors.

#4about 3 minutes

Use Azure Advisor for automated cost recommendations

Leverage Azure Advisor for proactive recommendations like removing orphaned resources or resizing VMs, but be cautious with AI tools like Copilot which may not yet provide optimal advice.

#5about 2 minutes

Choose cost-effective services and service tiers

Select cheaper service tiers like the free or basic App Service plans, Static Web Apps, or DTU-based SQL databases for workloads that don't require premium features.

#6about 3 minutes

Optimize virtual machine costs with smart choices

Reduce VM costs by running Linux, choosing smaller B-series instances, selecting cheaper regions like Sweden, or using Spot VMs for interruptible workloads.

#7about 4 minutes

Save money by upgrading to newer resource generations

Newer generations of virtual machines and App Service plans often provide significantly more performance for a lower price than their older counterparts.

#8about 4 minutes

Reserve resources for significant long-term discounts

Commit to using resources for one or three years with Azure Reservations to receive discounts of 40-60% on predictable workloads like virtual machines.